In your first required essay for the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, you need to show the admissions committee that the program’s hands-on learning environment not only appeals to you but is also the best way for you to gain the skills and experiences you need to succeed in your career goals. In that same essay, you must also explain what qualities you can offer that will help strengthen or elevate that learning atmosphere in some way. For Ross’s second essay, you have a choice of four prompts, all of which give you the opportunity to share something about yourself and your life that is separate from your career. Rounding things out, the program’s third essay is a fairly straightforward discussion of your professional aspirations and how the school will help prepare you to achieve them. A brief optional essay is available as well, should you have any elements in your candidacy that you believe warrant some clarification. Read on for our full analysis of the school’s 2024–2025 essay prompts.
University of Michigan (Ross) Essay Analysis, 2024–2025
Part 1: Ross Experiences in Action-Based Learning (REAL)
At Michigan Ross, we believe the best way to learn is by doing. In our Full-Time MBA Program, you will put your skills and knowledge to the test in real-world situations with real stakes.
How will this learning environment benefit you, and how do you plan to contribute to the action-based learning experience? (300 words)
This essay prompt is a fairly concentrated and targeted version of the traditional “Why our MBA?” essay question that many business schools pose. The admissions committee wants to know both how will Ross help you achieve your goals and what will you contribute in return, but specifically within the context of the school’s hands-on learning environment. On its site, Ross claims, “No other school can equal our students’ opportunities to start, advise, lead, and invest in real-world businesses,” adding, “Putting our students in real-world situations — with faculty guidance but with real stakes — helps prepare them to thrive and lead in a dynamic world.”
Ross is clearly not looking for individuals who simply want to be lectured to or spoon-fed business concepts, and we hope that you are ready for, if not genuinely excited about, this reality. Your readiness and enthusiasm are what you need to clearly convey to the admissions committee in your essay. Ross wants hands-on learners—doers who want to be in the mix and making things happen—so you need to convince the school that are you the kind of person who learns well (or best) by doing and that this type of learning environment is exactly what you need to be ready to enter, and excel in, the next phase of your career. Start by determining what skills and experiences you need to gain from an MBA program, and then focus specifically on the ones you believe would be most effectively acquired in a learning-by-doing setting. Next, identify which offerings at Ross will deliver these learning opportunities for you. Then, spell out these connections in your essay.
With only 300 words, you have a rather limited space in which to discuss everything the essay prompt requests, but you will need to present—as succinctly as you can—your career vision with adequate context, so that the admissions committee can understand what you are targeting. Your explanation of the elements of the Ross MBA program that appeal to you and of how they will benefit you will not be as effective or compelling if the admissions reader does not understand why you need them and how the experiences will support your professional endeavors going forward.
Similarly, the school wants candidates who will make its hands-on learning environment as dynamic and beneficial as possible for everyone involved, so you need to highlight the attributes and strengths you will bring that will elevate the experience for others. Perhaps, for example, you are a high-energy individual who is good at keeping other people motivated and enthusiastic about whatever they are working on. Maybe you have particularly strong communication skills that allow you to easily facilitate understanding among team members. You might have a long history of leadership or teamwork and have developed certain abilities to ensure that group work proceeds smoothly and effectively. Or you could be a calming presence that is great at keeping the peace or mediating among people when things get tense or obstacles arise. Your depth of knowledge in a key area could be particularly additive to certain offerings at the school. Really plumb your various capabilities and qualities and assess how each one might apply to the resources at Ross that you anticipate participating in. The more personal and granular you can get, the better. You want to present a very clear connection that is undeniably yours—specific to your particular needs and strengths.
Part 2: How will you make an impact at Michigan Ross?
Michigan Ross is proud to support a community of leaders and impact makers. As a future member of this community, we want to know more about who you are and what drives you. Please choose 1 of the following prompts to tell us more about what makes you stand out beyond your academic and work experience. List the prompt you are answering at the top of your response. (200 words)
– What makes you unique?
– Can you provide a specific example of how you’ve overcome a personal challenge?
– What makes you excited to get up each morning?
– Describe a time when you made a difference in your community or with an individual.
We encourage you to first consider very carefully which of these prompts feels most authentic to who you are as an individual and will allow you to write a truly revelatory essay in response. Then, thoroughly and thoughtfully brainstorm to identify your strongest possible topic(s). You want to be able to “own” your answer—as we like to say—meaning that no other applicant could write the same thing as you do. Strive to ensure that your essay genuinely reflects who you are as a candidate and is as specific to you alone as possible. You also do not want to repeat any element of your profile that is already well explained or represented in a different part of your application. Let us now take a closer look at each prompt option individually.
What makes you unique?
A good way to identify your best option(s) for this essay is by making a list of things you believe are notable about you. Ask for input from your friends and family members, who might mention or remind you of aspects you had forgotten or simply take for granted but that others value and admire. Then, home in on the characteristic(s) that best reflect(s) who you are as an individual today and that you can clearly tie to aspects of Ross’s culture, community, and/or academic and experiential offerings. You want to make sure that you are not just showcasing traits and achievements that you think are interesting or singular. Ideally, you want the aspects you highlight to fit well with the overall Ross MBA experience so that the admissions committee knows you will be a good match for its community while also adding your own special flair to it.
Can you provide a specific example of how you’ve overcome a personal challenge?
Challenges can be powerful learning opportunities. With this essay, Ross wants to learn several things: (1) what are some of your key skills and strengths, (2) how do you apply them, and (3) how do you act (and react) in situations that do not go as planned. You want to convey that you are not easily discouraged by obstacles and instead use them as learning tools or stepping-stones on your path forward.
For this essay, you could discuss a one-time occurrence or an ongoing issue that you deal with regularly (and have learned to “overcome” when it arises). We recommend using a narrative approach to present your story, but in addition to clearly explaining how you approached and prevailed over the challenge at hand, ensure that you detail the inner workings of your decision making—the thought process and motivation(s) behind your actions. This way, the admissions committee will get a clear impression not only of what you have accomplished but also of the abilities and aspects of your character that enabled your success.
With just 200 words for this essay, you have limited space, but if you can find a way to work it in, consider relating how the skill or strength you leaned on to navigate this challenge will help you as a Ross MBA student. You might also explain what you learned from the experience, which would demonstrate to the admissions committee an advanced level of self-awareness and highlight your ability to learn from obstacles, rather than be daunted by them.
What makes you excited to get up each morning?
We appreciate that you are likely excited about your career, but this is obviously not a topic option here, given that the prompt clearly specifies that this essay needs to be about something other than your professional life. What Ross wants to learn from this essay is what gets your heart pumping and mind racing outside of work. As Steve Jobs once said, “People with passion can change the world,” and although he was speaking about careers at the time, the statement is true for all aspects of one’s life. Excitement can lead to big ideas and actions. Sharing where your enthusiasm lies gives the admissions committee valuable insight into who you are as an individual, apart from your academic prowess, professional strengths, and career aspirations.
Do not worry if the thing you feel so fervently about might seem commonplace to someone else. For example, perhaps you feel inordinately passionate about cooking. Because this is an interest anyone could share and enjoy, you might have concerns that it could sound pedestrian or unremarkable. The key, though, is not what excites you but the depth of your engagement with it. If you can show that cooking is not just a hobby you enjoy from time to time but is instead something you connect with on a profound level and in various ways—perhaps you have taken a number of advanced-level courses at a local cooking school, avidly blog and Tweet about this passion, and regularly interact with your followers—then this initially uninspired-seeming choice most definitely becomes an acceptable discussion topic. Think about your options in terms of intensity, enthusiasm, devotion, longevity, loyalty, excitement, and heart, and be honest with yourself. The elements of your life that inspire and align with these concepts could be appropriate fodder for this essay, while anything that does not should be immediately discarded.
Once you have decided what you will discuss, do not simply tell the admissions committee about it. We recognize that you have limited word count with which to work here, but as much as possible, demonstrate how your excitement for this thing/activity/person/cause manifests in your life. For example, rather than stating, “I have been watching and playing basketball since I was a child,” you must create a more vivid impression of your dedication and involvement, such as “From playing with my brothers after school to varsity ball in college to now coaching a youth league in my community, I can hardly remember a time when basketball wasn’t an integral part of my life.” Like all other application questions, this one has no “right” answer, so do not try to guess what you think the school wants to hear. Authenticity and enthusiasm are the keys to your success with this essay.
Describe a time when you made a difference in your community or with an individual.
For this essay, you will obviously need to convey what the “difference” was that you made, and for whom. And we imagine this should go without saying, but the difference you describe should of course be positive in nature. Despite the limited word count, do your best to “show,” or really spell out, how things unfolded—rather than just stating the outcome or flatly presenting the situation—to give the admissions reader perspective on how you conduct yourself and achieve. The admissions committee wants to understand that the decisions you made (or were involved in making) and the actions you took clearly paid off and that an organization, individual, or group subsequently benefitted in some way. And because past behavior is generally believed to be a reliable indicator of future behavior, by explaining your specific role in the situation, you show the admissions committee not only some of the key skills you possess but also how you apply them.
If word space allows, touch on why you believe making a positive difference for others matters. This will provide the admissions reader with some insight into your values as well as your capabilities and could help you stand out. Ross wants individuals who naturally use their knowledge and talents to achieve good things not just for themselves but also for the communities they belong to, and ideally, to the world. So show the admissions committee you are just this kind of candidate.
Part 3: Career Aspirations
What is your short-term career goal and how will Ross help you achieve it? (200 words)
In your Part 1 essay, you must discuss how Ross’s learning-by-doing culture and approach will aid you in achieving your post-MBA goals. For this essay, by contrast, you need to pinpoint other aspects of the Ross MBA experience that will contribute to your success, in this case, success in your short-term objectives. You will obviously need to present your more immediate post-MBA goal and include a little context for it—as succinctly as you can—so that your choice makes sense. Then, to prepare yourself to write an effective essay response, you should explore every available avenue to learn as much as possible about the program. This is the part of our essay analysis where we once again urge you to go well beyond a school’s website and published materials in your research. Visit the campus (if possible), sit in on a class in person or virtually, connect with students and alumni, read recent press releases and student blogs, peruse the school’s YouTube channel, and download your free copy of the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Identify any clubs, events, courses, initiatives, or other opportunities that resonate with you and relate to who you want to be by the time you graduate and enter your post-MBA career. Note at least one specific resource at the school that would enable you to make your career goal a reality and/or success, and when you include this information in your essay, explain how you will engage with the resource(s) and what you expect to gain as a result.
For more detailed guidance on how to approach this kind of essay, download our free mbaMission Personal Statement Guide.
Optional Essay: Is there something in your resume or application that needs a brief explanation? Appropriate uses of this essay would be the explanation of an employment gap, academic outlier, choice of recommender, completion of supplemental coursework, etc. You may use bullet points where appropriate. (250 words)
Michigan Ross has worded its optional essay prompt to specify that this essay is intended to give candidates space to address unclear or problem areas in their profiles and is not an open invitation to discuss anything more they wish to share with the admissions committee. The mention of bullet points seems to be a not-too-veiled implication that the school wants you to focus on imparting key information rather than offering a detailed and longwinded explanation of the issue in question. This is absolutely not the time or place to share another cool story or otherwise try to impress or pander to the admissions committee. If you do not truly need to explain an issue or potentially confusing element of your candidacy, we recommend that you not submit an optional essay; if you do have issues to clarify, keep things concise. In our free mbaMission Optional Essays Guide, we offer detailed advice on when and how to take advantage of the optional essay, including multiple examples.
The Next Step: Mastering Your Michigan Ross Interview
Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. We therefore offer our free Interview Guides to spur you along! Download your free copy of the Michigan Ross Interview Guide today.
To learn more about the essays for other top business schools, visit our MBA Essay Tips and Examples Resources Page.
